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Independence....I am thankful today for independence and all that that encompasses. Our ancestors worked very hard to earn our independence so that we could live our lives according to God's Word and not live in religious persecution as so many others do. We can go to the polls, both women and men, and vote for individuals we believe are going to run our country, state and local governments according to our beliefs. We are able to go to the church of our choosing without someone telling us who or how we worship. We are an independent nation who is blessed beyond comprehension from The Lord. I often wonder why God selected Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Richard Stockton, Thomas Stone and even John Hancock. What made these particular men, the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, God's chosen ones to secure our freedom? Take Josiah Bartlett for instance. He was the second to sign (after John Hancock). He was a doctor in New Hampshire who got involved in politics and wasn't one to listen to the Royal Governor. Or William Williams who studied with his father, a pastor, and worked later as a merchant. Williams came late into the Continental Congress and didn't even vote for Independence. He was a replacement for the ill Oliver Wolcott. I wonder how God brought him to this place, a man who was a merchant for forty-four years before moving into the state Legislature later in life. Simple men by all accounts. And yet men that changed the course of history forever. God definitely led that group of men. God definitely had a hand in our independence and today, I am thankful for that :-)